Hello all





I've been searching for a new set of gears since my rearend blew up.


I've got a Camaro -96 rearend with OEM 3.42 gears that's in serious need of replacement.



http://www.tacs.nu/members/m006/breakdown.html



Anyway, I was looking through richmond's site and found two interesting gears.



49-0044-1 : 3.23

49-0045-1 : 3.42



But as far as I have heard, these gears are 7.5" but should fit. I'd like the 7.625" size because it should be stronger, or am I out of line here?



Any input is appreciated, I really need to get my car going with this rearend again.



Regards

Anders

 

7.5" and 7.625" are the same gears. The actual size is about 7.6", I don't know the exact number, but there is NO DIFFERENCE between the 2. I don't know how that rumor got started, but it needs to stop. The same gears fit all of those rear ends, from when they started using them in 78, up to 2002.

In no case could you put a different size gear on a carrier. That number refers to the inner diameter of the ring, which is a light press fit onto the carrier. But in this case since there is no difference in size, there's ..... no difference in size.

OEM gears are alot easier to install in most cases than the others. The Richmonds are stronger, but they are cut differently to get part of that strength, which is what makes them noisy. OEM gears are fine for most applications.

If you have a 5-speed, use 3.73 (stock for a HO car like mine); if you have a auto trans, go with the 3.42s if your trans is anywhere near stock.

 

Thanks, that's good to know.
I've got a T5 B&W but it starts to become a little bit too noisy so it'll be replaced with something else.

I'm building a twin turbo setup for my car but will not drag-race it, but I guess I need to replace the rearend with something beefier lateron. But I'll stick to it untill I get the TT setup finished (sometime next year).

/Anders

 

actually it is the outer diameter, of the ring gear,

none the less i have gears that are supposed to be 7.625 inch in my 84,

 

No, the number is the inner diameter of the ring gear, which is also the outer diameter of the ring gear's mounting flange on the carrier. The ring gear's outer diameter is actually about 10½ or 11".

Go measure one.